ET FORSVAR FOR PROGRAMMERINGSUNDERVISNING I EDB FOR HUMANISTER
IN DEFENCE OF TEACHING PROGRAMMING TO HUMANITIES STUDENTS
At a seminar last year a discussion took place on whether programming should be taught in half-year and full-year courses on computing for humanists, or if the students should merely apply ready-made programs. Lecturer Asbjørn Brændeland, University of Oslo, defends the dominant position of programming in such courses.
Brændeland holds that the discussion must start with the ideal and total character of the study subject. In his opinion Computing for Humanists should be an academic disipline encompassing humanistic research methods – particularly with regard to the use of computers; and here the use of off-the-shelf software would only indirectly benefit the students.
Brændeland points to the fact that humanists are concerned with the meaning and form of cultural phenomena in general and linguistic expressions in particular. It seems to him that there must be a tension here between the overall attempt to understand the meanings of such expressions and the requirement of tools and techniques for formal analysis; and that this tension must increase where the use of computers comes into play. Teaching must aim at exposing this tension, and then, to the extent that it is possible and desirable, to show how it can be dissolved.
The problem arising from this tension is twofold: 1. Is it at all possible to establish operational criteria for the meaning humanities research seeks to understand, and if so, how can it be achieved? 2. To what lengths can the humanistic scholar go in the direction of pure computing while maintaining genuine humanistic research?
According to Brændeland the best means of exposing both parts of the problem is an introduction to programming. Whether a problem can be operationalized is a question of whether its solution can be implemented as a computer program. Ready-made programs are of little help here, since they are just as likely to conceal as to reveal what the basic operationalizations actually consist of.
Brændeland also points to the fact that programming, as well as the development of programming tools, draws on the understanding of how language functions. This, together with the humanistic scholar's need to understand how linguistic phenomena can be formally and operationally described, seems to make programming a particularly suitable subject for humanities students.
SEMESTEREMNE + PASCAL = TØV?
COMPUTING COURSE FOR HUMANISTS + PASCAL = NONSENSE?
In this article Senior Lecturer Jan Oldervoll of the University of Tromsø seeks to show that it is unreasonable to include programming in Pascal in a one-term computing course for humanists. In his view there are several possible reasons for establishing a computing course, and he discusses programming in light of each of these.
If the goal is to create knowledgable computer users, programming is not directly useful. Teaching students how to employ 4th generation programs and other packages would be of more value.
If the goal of a computing course for humanists is to understand how programs work, little is to be gained from learning how to program. The reason for this is that the programs one can learn to write in a few months' time necessarily are very simple while demanding much time and effort. Here learning can obstruct understanding.
If educating counter-expertise is the chief goal, there are few good reasons for learning Pascal. It is more important to become competent in database and statistics programs, administrative systems, networks, etc.
In Oldervoll's view, it is not possible to give future computer experts a complete education in the course of one or two terms. Nor is it certain that they will use Pascal or any other procedural languages – it is becoming increasingly likely that they will employ a 4th generation tool instead.
Oldervoll does not believe that computer studies for humanists should aim at educating experts. One reason is that relatively few systems developers are needed. Another is that it is not possible to expand the course to more than two terms. In the course of a year students are enabled to integrate existing computer systems in various humanities fields, i.e. they become educated users.
A generally acknowledged goal is to achieve the highest degree of integration between computing and the humanistic disciplines. Learning how to employ program packages will allow students to carry out relatively complex research tasks as part of the course.
GRUNNFAG I HUMANISTISK INFORMASJONSBEHANDLING
STUDY IN HUMANISTIC INFORMATION PROCESSING
The three faculties of the University of Trondheim have developed a curriculum for a full-year course in humanistic information processing. The plan integrates subjects from departments of the social sciences, mathematics, and natural sciences, thus giving the study an interdisciplinary perspective.
The goal of the course is to supply humanities students with a basic knowledge of computers and enable them to apply computing methods to humanistic research. The course shall stimulate students to a reflected, independent, and critical attitude to the use of computer technology, and provide them with training in evaluating and developing suitable computer applications. The course shall also give insight into the use of computers as a tool for dissemination.
The first term of the course will comprise introductions to computers, programming, and some statistics. In the second term emphasis will be put on computing in relation to humanistic research problems.
DEN FØRSTE INTERAKTIVE VIDEOPLADE PÅ NATIONALMUSEET I KØBENHAVN
THE FIRST INTERACTIVE VIDEODISC AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN COPENHAGEN
The National Museum in Copenhagen have established an electronic archive of their objects to which a pictorial database will be connected. The first project concerning mediation of these data is the production of an interactive videodisc on Denmark's fight for freedom between 1940 and 1945.
According to Museum Inspector Tine Wanning, the primary target group of this disc is the "average" museum visitor, who does not have much knowledge of either the Occupation or computing. The project group are also attempting to make the disc useful both to museum staff and for teaching purposes. The disc will be finished by April 9th – 50 years since Germany occupied Denmark.
The disc will contain 55,000 frames, 11,000 of which will be used for single pictures of objects, photographs, and documents from the Freedom Museum (part of the National Museum). The 11,000 pictures are grouped according to topic and will allow interactive retrieval.
The rest of the 44,000 frames will be utilized for film, i.e. short introductions to the history of the Resistance. These nine introductions last three minutes each and are intended for linear use.
At the museum the system will be operated merely by use of a touchscreen, but in e.g. schools a bar code reader may be applied. Wanning gives a detailed description of the system's interface.
INTENSJONALITET I MENNESKER OG MASKINER
INTENTIONALITY IN HUMANS AND MACHINES
Solveig Bøe, Research Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Trondheim, presents the main theme and part of the discussion contained in her masters degree thesis on intentionality in humans and machines. Bøe's point of departure is John R. Searle's general theory of intentionality, which she finds does not manage to account for how mental states become intentional, i.e. explain mental representation. Bøe is of the opinion that a purely internalistic theory of mental representation is untenable.
The question of whether it is possible to develop artificial intelligence remains open, according to Bøe. She claims that on an intuitive basis this possibility cannot be rejected. She does however repudiate the computational theory of thinking, which leads to the conclusion that so-called strong AI is impossible to realize. The bottleneck in the development of AI seems to be the problem of mental representation, not the actual manipulation of mental representations.
DATAMASKINER – ET SPENNENDE OG NYTTIG HJELPEMIDDEL I PEDAGOGISK-PSYKOLOGISK ARBEID
COMPUTERS – AN EXCITING AND USEFUL AID TO PSYCHO-PEDAGOGICAL WORK
Mette Strømnes of the Institute for Pedagogical Research, University of Oslo, has written her master's degree thesis on the concepts of self-determination and perceived competence. In this connection she has carried out an investigation of 118 5-year-olds in order to gain knowledge of the relationship between these variables among children. Strømnes has developed a graphic test for mesuring the variables based on HyperCard, an application that she describes in detail.
Strømnes found the use of a graphics-oriented computer for data collection a great advantage, and the children she tested responded enthusiastically to the system.
FOTOMAC
Roger Erlandsen of the National Institute for Historical Photography and Espen S. Ore of NCCH have developed a HyperCard-based prototype of a pictorial storage system. Scanned pictures and reference data are stored in the system. Fotomac makes it possible to register and store a copy of a photograph, search for "photo cards" according to various criteria, view copies of photographs of a reasonably good quality on the computer screen, print a copy of a photo on a laser printer, and construct an order list for negatives/paper copies while searching data. Colour photos can also be displayed, and as an experiment sound has been stored together with some of the pictures.
DIS NORGE – FORENING FOR DATABEHANDLING I SLEKTSFORSKNING
NORWEGIAN ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTING IN GENEALOGY
Alf Christophersen reports that the chief goal of this recently established association (DIS) is to coordinate the use of software for genealogy. The association also wishes to spread knowledge of computing methods in local historical research, work for exchange of data between programs, and try to facilitate access to local historical data, church registers, land registers, etc. DIS has been established in conjunction with existing associations in the other Nordic countries.
BEDRE MULIGHETER FOR VURDERING AV PEDAGOGISK PROGRAMVARE I SKOLEN
IMPROVED POSSIBILITITES FOR EVAULATING CAL SOFTWARE
Upper Secondary School Teacher Erik Olsen points out the fact that schools cannot afford to take a chance and purchase software that according to its description seems to be interesting. What is needed is inexpensive or free sample programs.
Olsen finds it odd that software in such a widespread language as English (such as "Strongwriter", cf. HD 3-89) is not marketed better, as schools all over the world should be of interest to the program developers as free advertisers. He claims that CAL software should be tried out in the classroom and sent back free of charge if it is not up to standard.
UTPRØVING AV PEDAGOGISK PROGRAMVARE
TESTING CAL SOFTWARE
Upper Secondary School Teacher Erik Olsen is currently testing the program Question Mark on a class of prospective car mechanics. This program is a tool for teaching technical English on IBM-compatible computers. Question Mark functions as a task generator based on questions on any topic entered by the teacher. The pupils' answers are entered into a separate file and are analyzed and evaluated by the program. It is possible to create eight types of exercizes, of which the "free format" type comes close to giving the illusion of artificial intelligence.
Both Olsen and his pupils find Question Mark a useful and exciting tool for foreign language learning.
INTERAKTIV VIDEO FRA AMERIKANSKE MILJØER
INTERACTIVE VIDEO IN THE U.S.
For two months last summer Carla Meskill of the University of Massachusetts was the guest of the Computing Section at the Faculty of Arts, University of Bergen. Senior Research Fellow Signe Marie Sanne of NCCH describes some of the interactive video programs Meskill brought with her.
Meskill works primarily with introducing future teachers to the use of teaching technologies, and most of the programs she showed were trial projects undertaken by her and her students within a limited period of time. These included "English Conversation Strategies", "Fundamental Portuguese" (vocabulary training for pre-school children), "As the World Turns" (practice in grammatical structures based on an existing disc), and "The Castle" (a simulation/adventure game).
Meskill also brought a French disc from The Project for International Communication Studies (PICS) in Iowa. For the prurpose of language teaching PICS records on video satelite TV programs from all over the world, some of which are edited and pressed on videodisc.
Other discs Meskill showed were a program for teaching German developed by the Defense Language Institute in cooperation with Brigham Young University, and information systems produced by Keefe Technical School and Human Services Information (on the legal rights of individuals).
KONFERANSE OM OPTISKE MEDIA OG MULTIMEDIA
CONFERENCE ON OPTICAL MEDIA AND MULTIMEDIA
Information Officer Kristin Natvig and Senior Research Fellow Signe Marie Sanne, both of NCCH, report on a conference on optical media and multimedia held at Sola in June last year. The aim of the conference was to present the various types of optical media and how they are used both in Norway and abroad – in schools, business training, information work, and libraries. 10 lectures and 25 workshops were held for more than 100 participants from the private and public sectors.
In plenary sessions work on videodiscs in Denmark and international multimedia projects were presented. An overview was also given of the various types of optical media.
The topic of one of the workshops was how to utilize CD-ROM. This medium is currently being tested at several Swedish public libraries for the storage of a bibliographic catalog system.
Another topic was the advantages of using a bar code reader along with a videodisc instead of a PC. This was demonstrated in connection with a disc for teaching Spanish developed in Denmark.
A number of other interactive video systems were demonstrated, including "The Australian Barbecue", a program based on a touch screen that has been designed to teach immigrants both the English language and Australian customs. A single screen version of the French videodisc "Avec plaisir" was shown, in addition to an IV program for teaching resuscitation developed at Leuwen University in Holland.
A Norwegian IV program was demonstrated on voting techniques in municipal councils and committees, aimed at fledgling local councillors. A presentation was given of a pilot project the goal of which is to provide bank cashiers with professional training and practice in handling customers.
LaserAtlas is an interactive presentation of the Norwegian county of Møre and Romsdal, in the form of maps, photos, film, data, and text. Another interactive "tourist guide" – to the town of Stavanger – has been developed in HyperCard.
An interactive system for information on an aluminum works was also demonstrated. The system consists of a local pictorial database on a videodisc that is supplemented with videotext from a central database.
DATALINGVISTIKK OG DATASTØTTET LEKSIKOGRAFI/TERMINOLOGI
COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS AND COMPUTER ASSISTED LEXICOGRAPHY/TERMINOLOGY
Lecturer Ivar Utne of the Dept. of Nordic Languages and Literature, University of Bergen, reports on two conferences held in Reykjavik last summer, on computational linguistics and computer assisted lexicography and terminology.
The first conference dealt with language models for use in automatic linguistic analysis/production and in machine translation. Half of the papers were concerned with the latter topic, most based on experiences and discussions within EUROTRA, the EEC's machine translation project.
Much of the second conference was dedicated to topics related to the development of common language vocabularies. Several speakers discussed data formats for dictionaries, including conversion to various formats for presentation and exchange of data between different programs and machines.
Utne gives details of many of the papers given at both conferences.
7. NORDISKE IOD
THE SEVENTH NORDIC CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION
This conference was held in Århus, Denmark, in August. The aim was to present the state of the art of mediating information on literature to the commercial, industrial, and research sectors. Karin Nordenstam, previously of the information service for research projects located at NCCH, reports that 300 librarians, documentalists, and other information specialists from 12 countries attended the conference.
The theme of the conference – information and innovation – was shed light on by guest lectures (from the U.S., England, and Finland); more than 30 papers and an equal number of product presentations; panel discussions; demonstrations; study visits; and 30 exhibits.
The introductory lecture and other papers read in plenary sessions dealt with general aspects of information and future developments within the field. Dr. Donald Marchand from Syracuse University presented some innovative ideas on strategic information management along with the organizational and human consequences of new developments.
Marchand focused on the needs of trade and industry, as did many other speakers. However, Nordenstam concentrates on papers and product presentations relevant to documentalists of research. The DANDOK base – the Danish national research database in Copenhagen – is presented, along with the information service Nordenstam herself was employed at.
In a session with the title "Intermediaries and Endusers" three papers were read in which the following question was posed in several different ways: What is being/can be done to improve the situation for the users of databases? Another session was devoted to hypertext.
Elin Törnudd of the Technical College Library in Esbo, Finland, gave a summary of the innovations which have been of benefit to the information and documentation sector. Törnudd expects that developments within Artificial Intelligence in the coming decade will lead to simpler and more efficient information systems.
SEMINAR ON BILINGUAL COMPUTING IN ARABIC AND ENGLISH
This seminar – the first of its kind – was arranged at the University of Cambridge last September. Knut S. Vikør, Manager of the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Bergen, reports that 26 papers were read at the seminar, which was attended by 110 people, half European and half Arabic, in particular from the Golf countries.
One of the main themes was the difficulties encountered in computing Arabic lexicography. Basic methodological problems must be solved before practical projects within lexicography and machine translation can be embarked upon.
The presentations of Arabic databases were more business-orientated. The idea behind "Arabic World On-Line" is to enter all data on the Arab world which is relevant to business into a full-text database. The material will consist mainly of journal articles with pictures on economics, information technology, public initiatives, and Islamic law. All text retrieval and transfer can be carried out in either Arabic or English. However, the hardware required to make use of this service is far too expensive for most of the potential customers.
Some university teachers showed aids for teaching Arabic. These have been developed mainly for the Macintosh, especially using HyperCard. For example, Professor Dillworth Parkinson from Utah has created a set of drill exercizes based on EMSA, the most commonly used textbook in Arabic.
The session on experiences of (academic) users of Arabic word processing and desktop publishing programs was also dominated by the Macintosh. In Vikør's opinion, existing word processing programs are good, but still lacking.
Vikør's general impresssion from the seminar is that bilingual Arabic-English computerization is in an early sprouting stage.
KONFERANSE OM BRUK AV DATAMASKIN I SPRÅKFORSKNING OG -UNDERVISNING
CONFERENCE ON THE USE OF COMPUTERS IN LANGUAGE RESEARCH AND TEACHING
This Nordic conference was arranged in September by Magnus Ljung, Dept. of English, University of Stockholm. Senior Computing Officer Knut Hofland of NCCH gives details of the following papers:
Antoinette Renouf/Tim Lane, University of Birmingham: Work on the COBUILD corpus.
Alex Collier, University of Birmingham: A prospective project within historical lexicology on the various editions of Johnson's dictionaries.
Magnus Ljung: Results of a comparison of the vocabulary of textbooks in English for upper secondary schools and the vocabulary of the COBUILD corpus.
Merja Kytö, University of Helsinki: The Helsinki Corpus.
Margaret Rogers/Khursid Ahmad, University of Surrey: Computer assisted translation.
Nils-Lennart Johannesson, University of Stockholm: The CALL program VocLearn, for vocabulary training.
Glyn Hughes, University of Jyväskylä: CALL programs for training upper secondary school students in vocabulary, orthography, and grammar.
John DuBois, Santa Barbara: The tagging system for a corpus of spoken American; the database system Paradox used to represent and process hierarchical constituent structures of spoken language.
Rolf Ferm, University of Stockholm/Arne Zettersten, University of Copenhagen: General aspects of computer-assisted language teaching and the use of various authoring tools.
Gunnel Engwall: The preparation of a French newspaper corpus of three million words.
In addition, two Finnish programs were presented for teaching English to students of economics and engineering.
The participants also visited IBM's development centre at Lidingö near Stockholm, where work on processing natural languages has taken place during the past three years.
NASJONALT MUSIKKTEKNOLOGISK SENTER
NATIONAL CENTRE FOR MUSIC TECHNOLOGY
In September an informal meeting on the theme "a national centre for music technology" was arranged in Oslo by NCCH in cooperation with the MUSIKUS project at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian College of Music. More than 40 researchers, teachers, administrators, musicians, composers, and computing staff took part.
Proposals for a national centre for music technology had already been drawn up, by the manager of the MUSIKUS project, Arvid Vollsnes, and a group within the Norwegian Association of Composers. At the meeting Vollsnes explained the pedagogical importance of such a centre. He emphasized the fact that without access to sufficient equipment it is easy for music teachers, students, and composers alike to let themselves be guided and restrained by commercially available software. Pedagogical goals are undermined, and composers must compromise in their creative work.
The composer Cecilie Ore claimed that creative work must be the central activity at a centre for music technology. A centre would make it possible to retain a Norwegian identity while facilitating international dialogue.
MUSEENE SOM INFORMASJONS- OG KUNNSKAPSKILDE
MUSEUMS AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE
Director Jostein H. Hauge of NCCH reports on a seminar on this theme which was held in Stockholm in September. A central topic was the use of multimedia information technology in museum work. The introduction of new technology can facilitate management of comprehensive and differentiated source material. Even more important is the fact that museums now are able to expand their role as disseminators of information to the general public.
However, museums must be organised physically so that the users can utilize them actively as documentation centres. A good example is the "fact room" at Stockholm City Museum, where the public can seek knowledge themselves and are presented with material of a number of different types.
At the seminar accounts were also given of work on standardisation and a new development program the goal of which is to promote and coordinate the Swedish museums' activities within new information technology.
Many Swedish museums are engaged in developing image storage systems based on both analog and digital technology. Several technical papers dealt with the principles of digital image systems with emphasis on configurations and methods for image compression.
INTERACTIVE MEDIA '89
In October Interactive Media arranged its annual conference and exhibition in Brighton. Senior Research Fellow Signe Marie Sanne of NCCH reports from the exhibition, where many programs within commercial training were shown. Among these was a Swedish program on slaughtering techniques which won the Gold Award in "Bespoke Training".
A number of other programs dealt with the interaction between management, staff, and colleagues, such as "A Case of Disappearing Pills" (Mast Learning Systems Ltd.) and "An Introduction to Assertiveness" (given the Gold Award within "Published Training"). The latter program has been produced by Rank Training, who also showed seven other systems.
The exhibition made evident that an increasing number of programs are being devised within "Management and Behavioural Training" and "Skills and Procedural Training". A couple of programs for testing reading skills – "Learning to Listen" (Lasermedia) and "Secrets of Study" (Mast Learning Systems) – were also demonstrated.
A teaching program for physics was shown along with several aimed at teaching languages. With funding from Vector Ltd, BBC English, and IBM Mike Picciotto and Ian Robertson have developed "The European Connection" for teaching business English to foreigners with various mother tongues. Sanne found the program impressive but very expensive – it costs about £9000!
Another language program that was demonstrated was "The Expodisc Spanish", also aimed at businesspeople. The system has been developed by Paul Bangs and Sally Staddon and costs £950 + VAT.
KONFERANSE OM BRUK AV CD-ROM
CONFERENCE ON THE USE OF CD-ROM
CD-ROM Europe '89 was arranged in London in October by PLF Communications. In his report Lecturer Dan Dyrli Daatland of Stavanger Teacher's College concentrates on the sessions dealing with educational discs.
According to Daatland, this was the first CD-ROM conference that has put emphasis on the use of the medium in teaching. Much attention was also given to graphics and other highly visual screen effects. The third main tendency was the great interest in in-house production of CD-ROM's.
A discussion also took place on CD-ROM's in networks, i.e. central storage of discs in jukeboxes. In addition, demonstrations of parallel solutions based on videodiscs and CD-ROM's were given.
Daatland describes some of the CD-ROM systems for teaching demonstrated at the conference. Dallas Theological Seminar's "Bible CD-ROM" has been developed in Guide and contains both the Greek original and several English translations, in addition to dictionaries, commentaries, and a Greek bible encyclopedia.
Experiments on CD-ROM's and videodiscs at the primary school level in the Danish town of Odense were presented by Mogens Høirup. Chris Turner from Olivetti Research dwelled on the question of whether CD-ROM is a suitable medium for teaching. Patrizia Ghislandi of the University of Milano spoke on strategies for use of CD-ROM's in further education, and Pieter Burghart of the Netherlands Institute for Audio-Visual Media presented the "CD-ROM Brochure", for marketing about 20 firms and organisations.
CD-ROM in libraries – either alone or as a supplement to on-line retrieval – was also an important topic, along with maps on CD-ROM.
All in all the conference showed that the fields of application for CD-ROM's are clearly expanding. There was little to hear about CD-ROM-XA and DVI, and CD-I was not mentioned at all.
INTERAKTIV VIDEO OG CD-ROM I ITALIA
INTERACTIVE VIDEO AND CD-ROM IN ITALY
In November Senior Research Fellow Signe Marie Sanne of NCCH travelled to Italy in order to gain insight into video material published on optical discs. In Milan she visited Centro Televisivo Universitario, where she was shown an information and training program on a new Fiat model, a tourist information program on Milan, and a CD-ROM program on the heart currently being designed to run on the Macintosh.
In Milan Sanne also visited Video Italia, in charge of the video components of a government-funded project on teaching specialist languages within art and music.
In Genoa Sanne visited Centro Tecnologie Didattiche, which has developed an IV system on earthquakes. This appealing teaching program is based on a textbook with accompanying video and sound.
At SIDAC near Rome Sanne tried out several IV systems: an introduction to computers and programming; programs on sport and the theoretical aspects of photography; and a fascinating tourist program on Gallipoli.
SIDAC has also produced a number of CD-ROM's, one of which is to aid tourists during the World Championship in football this coming summer. Another CD-ROM contains an information program for a travel bureau. A manual for use by technicians in the Italian telephone company has also been produced on CD-ROM.
In addition, SIDAC is working on a CD-ROM displaying bridges and palaces in Rome, and has started to experiment with DVI.
Sanne also tried out several IV systems temporarily installed at an art exhibition. "Galleria Spada", produced in 1984, is an information guide to an art gallery that also functions as a database. "La Storia dell'Arte" is a recent three-disc program for teaching art history to upper secondary school students. Yet another system supplies information on various historical buildings in Rome.
MELDINGER
NEWS
These are no longer of interest for anyone and thus deleteted.
